Answer: No, slaves are not equal to white people and should got be counted.
Explanation:
The Southern States of the Union supported and practiced slavery where they enslaved mostly black people and forced them to work for them often in inhumane conditions because they felt that enslaved people were not equal to white people and so could be treated as property.
This stance was so predominant in the South that when Abraham Lincoln who was an abolitionist took power, the South seceded and formed the Confederacy which led to the American Civil War where they were defeated and the abolition of slavery forced on them.